All press releases on this site were first published on the CSW website.
CHINA: PASTOR FORMALLY ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF ‘ILLEGAL BUSINESS OPERATIONS’
A prominent Protestant pastor in Wenzhou in China’s Zhejiang Province was informed that he had been formally arrested on charges of ‘illegal business operations’ for selling recordings of sermons on 30 July. Pastor Huang Yizi Pastor Huang Yizi was taken into custody by Pingyang Public Security alongside four other church…
Dalai Lama issues statement confirming succession
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has confirmed that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue after his passing, ending years of speculation. In a statement released on 2 July ahead of his 90th birthday, the Dalai Lama reaffirmed that the process of identifying his successor will follow established Tibetan Buddhist…
Leaders and members of Linfen churches receive prison sentences
Three leaders from the Linfen Covenant Home Church in China’s northern Shanxi Province received prison sentences on 20 June. Pastor Li Jie and Elder Han Xiaodong were each sentenced to three years and eight months in prison, and Elder Wang Qiang was sentenced to one year and 11 months, all on unfounded…
CSW joins over 100 organisations in calling for the release of disappeared Southern Mongolian dissident
CSW has joined over 100 human rights organisations in calling for the immediate release of Hada, a prominent Southern Mongolian dissident and political prisoner who has been forcibly disappeared in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region since February. Hada was reported to have disappeared on 5 February 2025 after being taken to a…
HUI CHRISTIAN PASTOR SENTENCED TO NINE MONTHS IN PRISON
Hui Christian Pastor Ma Yan was sentenced to nine months in prison for ‘organising illegal gatherings’ by the Yinchuan Railway Transportation Court in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on 24 March. Ma was charged and tried on 10 February 2025 for organising a gathering of no more than ten Christians in Jinfeng District,…
40 Uyghurs deported from Thailand
A group of 40 Uyghur men detained in Thailand for more than a decade were deported to China in the early hours of 27 February. Local sources, including Thai Member of Parliament Romadon Panjor, reported witnessing two sets of vehicles with covered windows transporting detainees from the International Detention Centre (IDC) in Suan Phlu,…
Hui Christian pastor charged and tried for ‘organising illegal gatherings’
Ma Yan (credit: China Aid) A Hui Christian pastor from China’s Yunnan Province was charged and tried on 10 February for ‘organising illegal gatherings’ in relation to a gathering of no more than ten Christians in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Ma Yan, a 32-year-old preacher from Zhenxiong, Yunnan Province,…
Human rights lawyers and religious leaders decry systematic accusations of ‘fraud’ against unregistered churches
A group of lawyers, human rights activists and religious leaders have released an open statement decrying the Chinese government’s systematic violation of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) by accusing house churches not registered under the government of being illegal, and declaring that offerings made to these churches are therefore fraudulent. The…
Joint statement on the 10-year anniversary of deadly reprisals against Chinese activist Cao Shunli
